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» Monday, December 12, 2005

Anti Social Behaviour

Asked what time the Prime Minister thought children should be home at, following his comments on GMTV that children should not stay out late, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he thought that we all recognised that it was a matter for parents to exercise responsibility. That was precisely what the Prime Minster was getting at and precisely what the measures, already in place and envisaged, were aimed at.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

EU

Put to the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) that he told journalists last week that Jack Straw would publish a new proposal ahead of the summit, the PMOS that he did not; others did. The PMOS said that we would publish something towards the middle of the week, close to the summit, as was normal practice.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Rendition

Asked if the Government had ever received a request for an extra-ordinary rendition, as opposed to a rendition, the PMOS said that extra-ordinary rendition was not a phrase that we used. It was a media term. In terms of rendition the Foreign Secretary had spoken this morning about the three occasions on which he, as Home Secretary, and under the previous US administration had received requests. That was all we were aware of in terms of rendition of any kind to date. Put to him that presumably the Government had not agreed to any extra-ordinary renditions because they were illegal, the PMOS said that he would not talk about hypothetical situations. What he would talk about was what was actually the law, which was that we did not in any way condone the use of torture and would not be involved in any process that resulted in the use of torture.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Rendition Flights

Asked if Jack Straw would give any information about the rendition flights, as mentioned on the radio today, the PMOS said that what the Foreign Secretary was doing was with the agreement of Mr. Menzies-Campbell who asked Mr. Straw a PQ last week, was to answer that there were three requests for rendition in the Clinton Presidency in 1998, two of which were agreed, and the other was refused. There had been no such requests since 9/11 under the current administration.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

EU Budget

Put to him that there were reports in Brussels that suggested the French Government had said that it would block any further enlargement of Europe until Britain gave up it's rebate in full, the PMOS said that he was not aware of such reports. We should deal with the issues of the budget at budget talks and deal with issues of enlargement at enlargement talks. Asked if the Prime Minister had received the letter President Barroso had sent him, the PMOS said we were aware that the letter was coming. This whole period was for people to make their views known to us and that included the Commission.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Reshuffle

Asked if it was right to assume that there would be no reshuffle this week, the PMOS said the reshuffle would come when it came.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Fuel Depot Fire

Asked if there would be a statement in the House about the fuel depot explosion, the PMOS said it was possible, but it was still being considered.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (5)

Mr. Kember

Asked what the Prime Minister's thoughts were on Mr. Kember, the PMOS said that as he had said all along, he was not going to comment on the situation, as it was not in anybody's interests to raise the profile of this issue beyond what the Foreign Office advised.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Montreal Summit-WTO

Asked if the resolution of the Montreal Summit meant we were closer to being in a more optimistic frame of mind about the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Hong Kong, the PMOS replied that what it showed was the value of identifying and pushing an issue and the Prime Minister would pay tribute to the efforts of Margaret Beckett and her team who had done so. We had moved the agenda forward this year on climate change, and this was not only our judgement, but also the judgement of many of those who attended the Montreal talks. It showed the value of not only identifying an issue, but also persisting with it. To that extent, it applied equally in trade, where whatever the outcome of Hong Kong turned out to be, the Prime Minister would push the agenda forward on it.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

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» Monday, December 12, 2005

Anti Social Behaviour

EU

Rendition

Rendition Flights

EU Budget

Reshuffle

Fuel Depot Fire

Mr. Kember

Montreal Summit-WTO

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